Energy for railways

Abstract

Within the context of overall energy use for transport, the railways offer the easiest path to low carbon through electrification and its generation through low- or zero-carbon sources. The railways also generally claim to be a "greener" form of transport, although this claim depends critically on the passenger occupancy achieved. For freight movements there are clear energy advantages, but issues exist related to the transfer and final delivery of goods. The freight areas in which rail excels, in its traditional markets of coal and heavy goods, have declined in developed economies, the most common cargo now being the freight container. This chapter will flesh out the above issues and discuss some suggested routes to low energy, low emissions such as lightweighting, hybrid trains, fuel cells and bio-diesel and driving style.